[Victor]

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"hree years ago when these players were all nobodies many did take big risks, relative to their br, by playing all the 10k events and big live games. the ones that found success now enjoy great endorsement deals"

taylor, i dont think this is a good argument that the risks these guys took were reasonable simply bc no one had any idea that poker was gonna blow up and make big tourney winners celebrities.

and really, if they suspected poker would achieve mainstream popularity, there were far better poker related investements for the money.

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no one knew about it in 2003 when moneymaker won, but after this it was pretty widely known that winning a WPT event or getting far in the main event would lead to endorsements and fame. there was a two year period where basically any "pro" who won anything could expect to see a ton of cash and possibly an endorsement deal for doing anything noteworthy in poker.

i agree about the business aspect. however, most people that were drawn to the poker lifestyle (before the boom) are not the types of people that have the forsight to realize this and/or have what it takes to succeed in business. the smart ones simply bought a piece of companies but most didn't even do that.

tc

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wow, moneymaker was 4 years ago. i didnt realize but ya, your points are very valid. gawd it feels like yesterday.